Delcastle Technical High School bus struck by gunfire on I-95
WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) -- An armed carjacking suspect is dead after a police chase through several Delaware neighborhoods. It began around 7:30 a.m. Friday on East Ayre Street in Newport where a school bus was struck by gunfire, a man carjacked two vehicles and was then involved in a shootout with police along I-95 southbound at Route 896.
There were 36 students on the bus when it was struck by gunfire. No one was hurt, but some students are shaken up.
A Delcastle Technical High School bus was hit by three bullets on I-95. One bullet struck the arm rest next to the driver but no one in the bus was hurt, according to school officials @CBSPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/9qTZbKM8X9
— Matt Petrillo (@MattPetrillo) December 2, 2022
What started as a normal trip to school Friday morning could have turned into tragedy.
"It's not very common to hear about a bus getting shot at, especially with kids," Jonathan Hayman Boyce, a 10th grader at Delcastle Technical High School, said.
A school bus filled with students was on its way to Delcastle Technical High School when an armed man running away from police opened fire.
"I wasn't on the bus, but I have a friend who was," Giancarlo Weems, a 10th grader, said. "He says that he was just sitting there and out of nowhere, he just started hearing gunshots."
According to the school district, one of the bullets went through the door and struck the driver's armrest. Another struck the roof of the bus. The third bullet hit a passenger window frame, right next to Weems' friend.
"He was at the window where it got hit and it was like, very scary for him," Weems said, "because it was just by the piece of metal that saved him. Because any lower he would have gotten hit."
"The driver, you know, had no idea what was occurring, entered the scene," Joseph Jones, the superintendent of New Castle County Vocational Technical School District, said. "As soon as she realized that something did occur, fled the scene in a very safe way and brought the students right to school. It's fast acting, heroic."
Once at school, the students were brought to the auditorium, where they were offered counseling.
Some students chose to go home.
"Knowing that no one was injured, in particularly the bus driver where the shots were closest to, is just an immense amount of relief," Jones said.
The school district called to notify parents.
Despite the close call, parents CBS Philadelphia talked to say they still feel safe sending their kids to school on the bus.
"It's still safe, it's not the school bus drivers," parent Aleshia Boyce said. "They did their job. It's the people around us."
Even after the scary ordeal, the school says the bus driver continued working. In fact, she picked up students for her normal afternoon route to show students it's still safe to ride the bus.